She could still hear the siren on the ambulance, still see those two hulking men pounding on her tiny baby’s chest. She could feel Nick’s arm restraining her from running forward in a desperate attempt to blow her own breath into Robin’s body.
“Oh, God!” she said out loud, her eyes flying open. “It feels like the last time.”
“It’s not the same, Lisa,” Nick said tightly, his fingers gripping the steering wheel like a lifeline. “Mary Bea will make it. She’s strong and she’s tough, and I will not let anything happen to her.”
Lisa didn’t say a word. They both knew they’d had no choice the last time, and it was quite possible they would have no choice this time.
She hadn’t prayed in eight years. Today, she inwardly cried out for help. Please God, don’t take Mary Bea, too.
Nick pulled into the parking lot outside the Emergency Room. Lisa waited for him to open her door. Nick tried to take Mary Bea, but the little girl wouldn’t let go of Lisa.
“It’s okay. I can carry her,” Lisa said.
Nick held the door open as she struggled to get out of the car without causing Mary Bea more pain. They walked up to the double doors together.
“Oh, shit,” Nick said.
Lisa looked at him in alarm. “What’s wrong?”
He tipped his head toward one of the tree branches that graced the side of the building. A small bird let out a familiar call.
“The robin,” Lisa whispered, meeting Nick’s eyes. “Do you think it’s a good sign or a bad one?”
“How the hell would I know?”
Lisa took one last look at the robin before walking into the Emergency Room.
The receptionist asked for insurance information. Nick handed her the paper Maggie had left with them. The receptionist tried to ask a few questions, but Mary Bea began to cry again, the motion of their trip
having caused her more pain. Five minutes later, a nurse came out and escorted them into an examining room. Lisa tried to lay Mary Bea down on the table, but the little girl refused to let go.
“It’s okay,” the nurse said. “It might be easier if you just hold her for the moment. I understand her mother is away.”
“Yes. I’m her aunt, and this is her uncle.”
Nick couldn’t believe how calmly Lisa said the words, tying them together the way they used to be—aunt and uncle, husband and wife. He knew Mary Bea’s illness was taking its toll on Lisa. Her face was pale, her blue eyes bright with worry. Somehow she held herself together. Whatever insecurity she had seemed to be under control.
He, on the other hand, felt like he was losing control. A little girl he loved desperately was in tremendous pain, and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Not only that, if it weren’t for him, Maggie would be here right now, holding her daughter. If only he hadn’t lost his temper, hadn’t screwed things up.
“Nick, could you hold my purse?” Lisa asked, sliding it off her shoulder.
“Sure.”
He held on to her purse like a life jacket. It made him feel better.
He didn’t know why. Maybe it was the connection with Lisa. Then he began to get a strange sensation of warmth in his hands. He felt a tingle in the tip of each finger, and he had the sudden need to open her purse.
For a moment, he fought the urge, watching as the nurse took Mary Bea’s temperature and pulse. But he couldn’t get rid of the sensation that it was important for him to open Lisa’s purse.
Finally, he gave in, feeling like a fool. He was a man, and there was something about a woman’s purse that seemed intimate, personal. There didn’t seem to be anything unusual in her purse, just her wallet and checkbook, a hairbrush, lipstick and a small white box. The bracelet.
He took out the box and opened it. The bracelet glittered more than he
remembered, taking on a shine, an energy that felt like an electric shock when he picked it up and held it between his fingers.
“What are you doing?” Lisa muttered, while the nurse jotted down notes in Mary Bea’s chart.
“I think Mary Bea should wear this.”
“No.” Lisa shook her head.
“It feels—” Nick didn’t know how to describe it without sounding like an idiot. Before he could explain, the nurse began to speak.
“Your pediatrician ordered a blood test, to check for infection,” the nurse said. “I’d like to do that now, then the Emergency Room physician will be in to examine your niece.”
“What about Mary Bea’s pediatrician? Shouldn’t he be here?” Nick asked, still hanging on to the bracelet.
“We’ll be in touch with him after we know more,” the nurse replied, as she prepared to take Mary Bea’s blood. She smiled at Lisa. “If you can turn her face against your chest, so she isn’t looking directly at me, that would be helpful.”
Lisa did as requested, trying to distract Mary Bea from the needle the nurse was preparing to inject into her skin. “Maybe you should tell her what’s going to happen,” Nick suggested.
“You tell her,” Lisa said.
Nick smiled at Mary Bea. “The nurse is going to give you a little pinch in your arm. That will help the doctor know what’s wrong so he can make it better.”
Mary Bea looked at him with wide, frightened eyes.
“I brought the magic bracelet with me,” he said, holding it in front of her. “Isn’t it pretty?”
“Is it really magic?” Mary Bea asked as the nurse wrapped a piece of tubing around her arm.
“Aunt Carmela says it is.”
“If I touch it, will it make my stomach stop hurting?”
Nick looked into Lisa’s eyes, not sure how far he should go with this.
Lisa didn’t seem to want any part of this conversation. “It might help,” he said, watching Mary Bea’s eyes fill with moisture as the nurse inserted the needle into her arm. She tried to jerk her arm away, but Lisa and the nurse managed to hold her still.
“Hurts,” she whimpered.
“All done,” the nurse said. “You can relax for a few minutes. The doctor will be in shortly.”
As the nurse left, Nick touched Mary Bea’s cheek with the bracelet, hoping she could feel the warmth, the energy that he was feeling. It seemed to help. She closed her eyes for a moment.
“Take it away,” Lisa said in a rush, her eyes panicked. “She’s going to sleep, Nick. Just like before. I was wearing the bracelet that night, don’t you remember?”
Nick remembered everything about that night. It was indelibly printed on his brain. “You weren’t wearing it, Lisa.” He looked into her eyes and saw confusion.
“Of course I was. I wore it every night. I never took it off.”
“The clasp broke when you accidently caught it on the edge of the diaper table. Don’t you remember? You were heartbroken.”
She stared at him blankly.
“I found a jeweler who could fix it, so we left it with him. That was the day before Robin died.”
She put a hand to her mouth. “You’re right.” She looked absolutely stunned by the revelation.
“The bracelet didn’t come back from the jeweler until after the funeral. Of course, you didn’t want any part of it by then.”
“I’d forgotten.”
Nick slipped the bracelet over Mary Bea’s wrist, letting it dangle loosely over her arm. “You forgot a lot of things, Lisa.”
“I guess I did. But if the bracelet was supposed to be magic, it sure didn’t work.”
“Maybe because we didn’t have it when we needed it.”
“Like that explains what happened? “Nick offered her a sad smile.
“Nothing will ever explain what happened. Nothing. That’s a fact we both have to accept.”
Lisa adjusted her arms around Mary Bea as the girl seemed to doze in her arms, the waves of pain having receded for the moment.
“I never really believed in the bracelet. It’s pretty, but magic?”
“Your Aunt Carmela said she made the bracelet out of gold that was passed down from the ancient Aztecs. They were renowned for their mystical powers.”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “That’s the difference between you and me—you don’t need much of a reason to believe in the impossible. I want a written, money-back guarantee before committing to any big dreams.”
“I know. I wish I could have given you one.”
Lisa stared at the shiny gold bracelet. “I’m sure you would have if you could. I never believed in anything until I met you. You made me believe, Nick. I guess that’s why I had to blame you when everything fell apart. But it wasn’t your fault, it was mine.”
“Maybe we just didn’t give the magic a chance to work,” Nick said.
“Maybe if you’d put the bracelet back on …”
“How could a bracelet be magic?”
“How could a robin be following us all over town?” he asked as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “How could two people who promised to love each other for all time get a divorce?”
Lisa looked away, but not before he saw a glimmer of pain in her eyes.
She gently stroked Mary Bea’s hair. “I don’t understand much of what’s happened in my life.”
Mary Bea opened her eyes and squirmed on Lisa’s lap, once again tormented by pain. She was trying so hard to be brave that it almost broke Nick’s heart.
“I can’t believe the damn doctor isn’t in here by now,” Nick said.
“What’s he doing?”
“I’m sure he’s busy with other patients. “”She hurting, Lisa. She needs to see the doctor now. I’m going to find him.”
“You’re staying right here, Nick. Get a hold of yourself. As you said before, we have to stay calm.”
“You’re right.” Nick sat down on a stool, irritated by her sudden cool. She was supposed to be the one falling apart, not him. He’d always taken care of her; it had never been the other way around. He had to admit she’d impressed him with the way she’d taken charge since entering the hospital, dealing with Mary Bea, the receptionist and the nurse.
Mary Bea cried again, and Lisa kissed her forehead. “It’s okay, honey. Hang on. It will be better soon.”
Nick got to his feet again, unable to stay still while Mary Bea was in so much pain. He had heard Mary Bea cry many times in his life, but not with this type of intensity. He was afraid something was terribly wrong.
“I could kill Maggie,” he said abruptly. “She should be here.”
“It’s not her fault. She doesn’t know.”
“She should have left a phone number.” He ran a hand through his hair.
“I know it’s my fault. If I hadn’t yelled at her, you could have talked to her and told her about Mary Bea. Then she would have come home.”
“Nick?”
“What?”
“Shut up.”
“I feel so damn helpless.”
“I know. Me, too.”
He looked into her eyes and saw the worry behind the calm. It made him feel better to know she was scared, too. Maybe he still needed her to need him. It was a pitiful thought for a grown man to have, but he couldn’t deny it wasn’t there.
The door finally opened, and a man walked in carrying Mary Bea’s chart.
The doctor appeared to be in his early thirties and wore an outrageous red tie with puppies all over it. He smiled at Mary Bea.
“You’ve got a bad tummy ache I hear,” he said kindly. Mary Bea blinked away some tears and stared at the doctor. “Hurts.”
“I bet it does.” He squatted so he could look into Mary Bea’s eyes. “I need you to do me a big favor. I have to ask you to lie down on the table over here so I can see where it hurts.”
“No. Want Aunt Lisa.” Mary Bea hugged Lisa more tightly.
“Well, Aunt Lisa will stand right next to you and squeeze your hand really, really tight. Say, what do you think of my puppies?” He flicked his tie in front of her.
“Silly tie,” Mary Bea said.
“Really? I have one with hamburgers on it, too. And one with Garfield. Oh, and I have one with the Little Mermaid. I bet you like the Little Mermaid.”
Mary Bea’s arms loosened as the doctor talked, and Nick could hardly believe his eyes when the doctor lifted Mary Bea out of Lisa’s arms and laid her down on the table. As promised, Lisa took Mary Bea’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
The doctor continued to talk about cartoons and movies and dolls. He seemed to know quite a bit about little girls. First, he checked Mary Bea’s throat, ears and glands, then worked his way down to her chest and stomach and, finally, the abdomen. He carefully avoided the right side, starting with the left, pressing gently here and there, and asking if it hurt.
He slowly worked his way over to the right side, and as soon as he did so, Mary Bea shrieked, her eyes suddenly wild with pain. The doctor eased up, but continued the examination for another very long minute.
Nick had to force himself not to drag the man away from Mary Bea. He knew the examination had to be done, but he couldn’t stand to see his niece in so much pain.
Finally, the doctor finished. “Her appendix appears inflamed,” he said. “We should have her blood test in a few minutes. I’ll have one of our surgeons check her, but I think she has appendicitis. ”
“Surge Why do you need a surgeon?” Nick asked. “Can’t you get rid of it with antibiotics?”
“No. She’ll need to have her appendix removed. How long has she been complaining of pain?”
“Since last night, around ten or so.”
“That would be about sixteen, seventeen hours?”
“Yes, I guess.”
“I have to tell you, there’s a danger of rupture within twenty-four hours.”
“Rupture?” Lisa swayed slightly, and Nick moved over to stand behind her, supporting her and Mary Bea. They faced the doctor like a united family.
“Is the surgery dangerous?” Nick asked.
“We have an excellent pediatric surgeon on staff. She’s done this particular surgery thousands of times, but I’ll let her explain everything to you.” The doctor stepped out of the room, and they were once again left to wait.
“Surgery,” Nick muttered. “I can’t believe it.”
“It’s a simple procedure, I think,” Lisa said, but she looked as worried as he felt.
Five minutes later the doctor returned with a woman.
“I’m Dr. Connelly,” she said with a warm smile. “I understand someone in here has a stomachache.”
Mary Bea turned her head into Lisa’s chest, obviously wary of another doctor.
“I’m sorry,” the woman said, “but I’ll need to examine Mary Bea as well.”
“It hurts her so much,” Lisa protested.
“I’ll do it as quickly as possible, but we want to make sure we have the right diagnosis before we go into surgery.”